ARTICLES

On February 19th, the Transfiguration
Day, the joint protest rally of IDPs and the open market sellers ended
up with the arrest of the opposition party members. The police officers
arrested one of the leaders of the “People’s Party,” Aleko Shalamberidze
and the founder of the youth movement “No.” They tried to arrest the
“Conservative Party” member Lasha Chkhartishvili as well, but because of
the resistance of the protest rally participants, they could not manage
to do so.

“With all my responsibility, I declare that no staff reduction of
teachers is planned, has never been planned and can’t be planned at
all,” – stated the Minister of Education and Science Dimitri Shashkini
on June 17th, 2010. From August 5th till August 14th, only in the
Kakheti office of the Human Rights Center received 247 complaints of the
teachers dismissed from the public schools. In the command of the
teacher’s dismissal, the paragraph D of the article 37th of the Labor
Code is indicated – the cancellation of the labor agreement.

“The biggest difference between ethnically Georgian and Azerbaijani
women is that Georgians have more equal rights with their husbands than
Azerbaijani women do. Generally, Azerbaijani women, basically in the
villages, don’t feel free,” – says Tatiana Batashuri, who works in the
office of “National Network against Violence.”

“The Georgian authorities must do more than the bare minimum to provide
adequate housing, employment and access to health care to those
displaced as a result of the conflicts in the 1990s and the war with
Russia in August 2008. Displaced people need more than just roofs over
their heads,” – stated Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia
Programm director of the international organization “Amnesty
International.”

“I witnessed how Putin called
Saakashvili and strictly warned him not to start the war and bomb
peacekeepers,” – stated Nino Burjanadze on August 12th in the live
broadcasting of the local television company “Trialeti.” For two hours
Nino Burjanadze was answering calls of the region population. This
program became one of the highest rated ones according to the received
calls.

The strong prime-minister, strong government and maximally diminished
parliament – this is the formulation of the constitutional project which
was adopted in an expedited way on July 19th. This is the opinion of
the opposition and non-governmental sector, including the
representatives of the organizations, members of the above mentioned
commission. Despite their opinions and recommendations, the project has
already been adopted and the parliament is already working on it.

Russia deployed C-300 anti-air defense systems in the territory of
Abkhazia, reports news agency Itar-Tass. According to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Alexander Zelin, the
anti-air defense army units were deployed in so-called South Ossetia.
The US State Department representative stated that he already knew about
the C-300 system deployment in Russia two years ago.

Two years after the August war rebuilding Georgia’s defense, including
through possible supply of anti-tank, air defense and early-warning
radar systems, is one of the areas in which Tbilisi needs U.S. long-term
support, U.S. Republican senator, John McCain wrote in his opinion
piece published in the Washington Post on August 8.

27 million dollars are spent on the 24 hour constant water supply of
Poti. President Saakashvili congratulated the whole country with
“constant water” in the live broadcasting of several television channels
and symbolically turned on a tap in one of the houses in Poti. As it
was found out later, the water was streaming down from the reservoir
located at the roof of the house. The Poti population is most deceived;
after two years from this remarkable day the water is supplied only for a
couple of hours, every second day and by the way, for the most
expensive price compared to all other regions of Georgia.

During the first six months of 2010, 89879 lari and 35 tetri was spent
from the Ozurgeti Municipality budget for the police financing.
Basically, this money was used for communal fees, mono cards and petrol.
372 cleaning papers were bought for 13000 lari, 676 toilet papers – for
2500 lari and 80 perfumes – for 1200 lari,” – states an expert.

Exactly two years ago, the separatist
armies of Russia and Abkhazia raised their flags in Chkhalta. The elders
and children had already left the Kodori Valley, later, all the Svans
left the place as well. It’s been two years now that upper Abkhazia is
left in the hands of the occupants. The Svans from Kodori are living
with their memories.

75 year old pensioner, first group
invalid Jenia Tepnadze has been living in the extreme poverty for years
now. All her property consists of the old metal bed, small table full of
medications and one shaky chair. Her only income is a monthly pension
and a social help – 30 lari.

The citizen Lela Gogiberidze addressed the Human Rights Center.
Residing at # 19 Mazniashvili St, Batumi, she claims that Energo-Pro
Georgia is constructing high voltage cables in part of her yard, thus
taking over her property.

Officials from the Batumi Supervision
Service physically assaulted journalist, Emzar Diasamidze. The incident
took place on July 30, at the territory of the Boni market. The reason
for the fighting was simply due to a request concerning job confirmation
documentation. Diasamidze was taken to the police department. Police
denies this fact.

The four storied building of IDPs at
#6 Lomuri St has just been restored. The doors and windows have been
replaced, the building has been cosmetically repaired, and individual
bathrooms have been provided. Even an amusement park for children has
been arranged in the yard. The building has been painted in pink, and
briefly, we can say that the IDPs were provided with human living
conditions. However, there just one little thing that was not
considered, and as a result, nearly a half meter of water floods the
basement of the renewed building.

It’s currently prohibited to enter the
Zemo Niqozi village without official identification cards. Georgian
armed forces located at the entrance are strictly controlling the
traffic in and out of the village. A representative from The Human
Rights Center’s Gori office witnessed an incident in the village that
was located near the front line in August war.

The population of Kvemo Kartli
villages – Agtaklia and Qesalo - are asking for attention from the
government. “Mtkvari is flooding the entire village. Nobody will pay
attention to this situation. We don’t even know when the drinking water
will be available and we don’t have gas either. The electricity fee has
risen from 13 tetri to 27 tetri. They won’t even take out the trash and
consequently the city has turned into a trash bin.. The only thing that
works properly here are the police officers,” complained Vugar Gasanovi,
resident of the Agtkalia village in the Gardabani Region.

We all remember a commercial shown by
numerous national television channels before the 2008 August war in
which a tank violating traffic rules outruns a car. The young driver of
the car is fascinated by the capabilities of the tank. Another young
person climbs out of the tank and calls to him with a shout, “Come to
the reserve, it’s cool!” In the two years following the August war, new
militarist video clips are expected. The government is currently
amending the laws concerning reserve service and the calls for
militarism have increased in President Saakashvili’s speeches.